Race: A Theological Account

J. Kameron Carter’s book on race was published in the auspicious year of 2008, when Barack Obama was elected president of the United States. It could not have come at a better time.

Despite its ubiquity in all dimensions of U.S. life, few scholars have explored the theological origins of race as a phenomenon. Carter’s approach in his long-awaited treatise on the subject is quite different from what most of his readers might expect. Instead of beginning with a discussion of the European encounter with Native Americans and Africans, Carter begins with the discipline of theology.